Antennas

&
Propagation
Lecture VII
Propagation
Antennas &
-1-

Mischa Dohler

Kings College London

Centre for Telecommunications Research
 Overview of Lecture VII
- Review of Lecture VI
- Frequency Independent Antennas
- Basics of Aperture Antennas
Lecture VII

- Horn Antenna
Propagation
Antennas &
-2-

- Slot Antenna
- Microstrip (Patch) Antenna
- Parabolic Antenna
- Antennas: Practical Considerations
 -3-

Antennas &
Lecture VII
Propagation

Review
 Wire Antennas

1. Hertzian Dipole

2. Finite Length Dipole

3. Antenna Array
Lecture VII
Propagation

Uda-Yagi
Antennas &

4.
-4-

5. Turnstile

6. Loop

7. Helix

8. Quadrifilar Helix
 VHF TV Receive Antenna

Uda-Yagi Antenna
Lecture VII

Sheet Reflector
Propagation
Antennas &
-5-

Folded Dipole
Driver

Feeding Mast

5-6 Directors
 Helical Antenna

Axial Mode Radiation (endfire) appears if:

3/4 < C/ < 4/3

1. Narrow Mainbeam with minor

Lecture VII
Propagation
Antennas &

sidelobes
-6-

z
2. HPBW 1/(Number of turns)

3. Circular Polarisation
(orientation helix orientation)

y 4. Wide Bandwidth

5. No coupling between elements

x
6. Supergain Endfire Array
Circumference C
 -7-

Antennas &
Lecture VII
Propagation

Antennas
Frequency Independent
 Rumseys Principle

All antenna characteristics so far were always scaled with respect

to . Thus, changing changes the characteristic.

The impedance and pattern properties

Lecture VII

of an antenna will be frequency

Propagation
Antennas &
-8-

independent if the antenna shape is

specified only in terms of angles and
the antenna itself is infinite.
 Rumseys Principle

Scaling through angles self-scaling

Infinite size problem of realisation

t
f as
ay
Lecture VII

c
Propagation

de
Antennas &
-9-

uld

ho
Finite Bowtie Antenna

tsn
rre
Cu
 Log-periodic toothed Antenna

Effectively infinite current decays fast

Current decays fast introduce discontinuities

Discontinuities destroy self-scaling nature

Self-scaling nature log-periodic toothed antenna

Lecture VII
Propagation
-10-

Log-periodic sheet Log-periodic wire

Antennas &

Characteristic will be repeated at (discrete) nf1.

 -11-

Antennas &
Lecture VII
Propagation
Log-periodic Dipole Array
 -12-

Antennas &
Lecture VII
Propagation
Spiral Antenna
 Fractal Antenna

Lecture VII
Propagation
-13-

Antennas &
 -14-

Antennas &
Lecture VII
Propagation

Aperture Antennas
 Huygens Principle

Any wavefront can be considered to be the

source of secondary waves that add to produce
distant wavefronts.
z
Lecture VII

P
Propagation
-15-

Antennas &

r
en
r

J,
y
x

k e jkr'
E j e n Es er' e n Hs er' er' d
4 Surface
r'
 Aperture Plane

To
w
ar
ds
in
fin
Aperture Plane

ity
Lecture VII
Propagation
-16-

Antennas &

- E-field vanishes on the

Hemisphere at infinity.
- Total field is derived from
the knowledge of the field
on the aperture plane.
Closing Hemisphere
 Rectangular Aperture
y
P
x r
E A E0 e y
b/2
H A E0 / e x
r

z
Lecture VII
Propagation
-17-

Antennas &

Polarisation in the far field is the

-a/2 a
same as in the aperture.

1 1
sin
ka sin cos sin kb sin sin
k e jkr 2 2
E j E0 a b
4 r 1 1
ka sin cos kb sin sin
2 2
sin 1 cos e cos 1 cos e
 Parameter Rectangular Aperture

y-z plane:
1
sin kb sin
k e jkr 2 1 cos
E yz j E0 a b
4 r 1
kb sin
2

HPBW yz 0.886
Lecture VII

b
Propagation
-18-

Antennas &

x-z plane:
1
sin ka sin
k e jkr 2
E yz j E0 a b 1 cos
4 r 1
ka sin
2

HPBW xz 0.886
a
 Circular Aperture
y
P
x r
E A E0 e y
H A E0 / e x
r

z
Lecture VII

a
Propagation
-19-

Antennas &

Polarisation in the far field is the

same as in the aperture.

k e jkr J ka sin
E j E0 a 2 1
2 r ka sin
sin 1 cos e cos 1 cos e

J1(x) is the first order Bessel Function of first kind.

 Parameter Circular Aperture

y-z plane:

k e jkr J ka sin
E yz j E0 a 2 1 1 cos
2 r ka sin
x-z plane:
Lecture VII

J 1 ka sin
Propagation

k e jkr
E0 a
-20-

Antennas &

E xz j 2
1 cos
2 r ka sin

Large Apertures:

HPBW 58
2a
 Directivity
Rectangular Aperture:

4
Drec 2 a b
Definition
Real Physical Area
Circular Aperture: 4
D 2 Ae
4
Dcirc 2 a 2
Lecture VII

Propagation
-21-

Antennas &

Thus, for the uniform rectangular and circular aperture the

physical area is equal to the effective area.

Non-uniform apertures or fields:

Ae ap Aph Aperture Antennas: 30-90%

ap Aperture Efficiency Horn Antennas: 50%

 -22-

Antennas &
Lecture VII
Propagation

Horn Antennas
 Horn Antennas

TE10

E-Plane H-Plane Pyramidal

Lecture VII

sectoral horn sectoral horn horn

Propagation
-23-

Antennas &

Excitation: TE10 mode

Impedance Matching
through flare

Gradual Transmission with

minimised reflection
 Specifications

1. Directive Radiator

2. Primary feed for parabolic reflectors

3. High gain, wide bandwidth and simple

Lecture VII
Propagation

Particularly used in microwave region (>1GHz)

-24-

Antennas &

4.

5. Fan radiation patterns

 -25-

Antennas &
Lecture VII
Propagation

Slot Antennas
 Slot Antennas

V 1
-x E A sin k L z ex
w 2
L

y
Lecture VII
Propagation
-26-

Antennas &

w 1 1
cos kL cos cos kL
V e jkr 2 2 e
E( r ) j
r sin

Bookers Principle: 2
Z air Z metal 35476 2
4

Z dipole 73 j 42.5 Z slot ( / 2) 363 j 211

 Slot on Waveguide Walls

TE10 mode
Lecture VII
Propagation
-27-

Antennas &

Radiation is maximum at maximal interrupted current

Radiation

No Radiation
 Applications

1. Slot Antennas are used in fast-moving vehicles.

2. The slot-length is usually /2

3. Particularly used in microwave region (>1GHz)

Lecture VII
Propagation
-28-

Antennas &
 -29-

Antennas &
Lecture VII
Propagation

Antennas
Microstrip (Patch)
 Patch Structure

Feed
Patch
Lecture VII
Propagation
-30-

Antennas &

Substrate

---- ++++ t
r d
++++ ----
 Patch Shapes

Rectangular Dipole

Circular Ring
Lecture VII

Elliptical
Propagation
-31-

Antennas &

Analysing Methods
Triangular
-Transmission Line
- Cavity
- Maxwell Equations
 Application & Performance

1. It is applied where small antennas are required:

aircrafts, mobiles, etc

2. Due to shape variations they are versatile in

Lecture VII

polarisation, pattern, impedance, etc.

Propagation
-32-

Antennas &

3. They have a low efficiency, spurious feed

radiation and a narrow bandwidth

4. They usually operate in broadside regime

5. /3 < L < /2 and 2 < r < 12

 -33-

Antennas &
Lecture VII
Propagation

Antennas
Parabolic Reflector
 Large Gains

1. Uda-Yagi: 15dB
Complicated Feeding
2. Helical Antenna: 15dB

3. Antenna Arrays high gains many elements

Lecture VII
Propagation

Horn: high gains large size

-34-

Antennas &

4.

Aperture increasing Reflector Artificially increase size

- (re-) transmitted waves are in phase

- (re-) transmitted waves are as parallel as possible
 Parabolic Reflector

Parallel and in-phase waves

Parabolic Dish
4
D 2 Ae

Feed
r

4

Lecture VII

D r 2
Propagation

2
-35-

Antennas &

- Dish has to be 100% parabolic

- Feeder shouldnt block too much

Non-uniform fields due to aperture blocking etc

Ae ap Aph
ap Aperture Efficiency = 80%
 Applications

1. Used where high gains are required:

Cosmic Radiation, etc.

2. Navigation
Lecture VII
Propagation
-36-

Antennas &

1. Beam is slightly steerable

2. Deviation from perfect surface can be made

<1mm

3. Diameters are usually 100m-300m

 -37-

Antennas &
Lecture VII
Propagation

Practical Considerations
 Practical Considerations

- The Quality Factor Q

- Electrically Small Antennas

Lecture VII
Propagation
-38-

Antennas &

- Physically Small Antennas

- Imperfect Ground
 -39-

Antennas &
Lecture VII
Propagation
Feeding
 Exotic Antennas

- Fractal Antennas

- Light Antennas
Lecture VII

- Gravity Antennas
Propagation
-40-

Antennas &

Everything what propagates can be transmitted.

Everything what can be transmitted can be received.

- EM waves, sound, smell, light, gravity and maybe 6th sense -